Ever since Joseph Schumpeter’s work at the turn of the century, economists have understood that entrepreneurial activity—what Schumpeter called creative destruction—creates economic growth. Nobel laureate and Hoover fellow Gary S. Becker just wishes a few of the world’s finance ministers understood it too.
Malthus versus Ricardo, Friedman versus Keynes—for more than 150 years the study of economic growth has been a field of battle. Hoover fellow John B. Taylor argues that the smoke has finally begun to clear.
President Clinton stated two years ago that the era of “big government” is over. Unfortunately, no one seems to have told his budget director. Hoover fellow John F. Cogan takes a closer look at the latest budget—and doesn’t like what he sees.
These days it’s difficult to find an avowed socialist. But Washington is crawling with neosocialists—in both parties. By Hoover media fellow Peter Brimelow.
Postindustrial America looks a great deal more like Alexis de Tocqueville’s America than the industrial America in which most of us grew up. In many ways, that should be reassuring—and in a few ways alarming. An essay by Hoover media fellow Michael Barone.
Americans distrust politicians—and with good reason. Hoover fellow David R. Henderson explains why principles are often the first casualty of politics.
The 103d Congress was controlled by Democrats. It didn’t accomplish much. The 104th Congress was controlled by Republicans. It didn’t accomplish much either. Why? Hoover fellow David W. Brady joins Hoover visiting scholar Craig Volden in explaining that there are some very good answers.
The stated goal of President Clinton’s Advisory Board on Race is to heal racial rifts. In practice, it widens them. By Hoover media fellow Christopher Caldwell.
The usual defense of the welfare state? That whatever its economic inefficiencies, it accomplishes a great deal of good. Hoover fellow Jennifer Roback Morse begs to differ. A rigorous essay in economics—and moral theology.
Advances in genetic engineering may make it possible for people to alter their genetic structure for purely cosmetic purposes. Should the government intervene? Hoover fellow Henry I. Miller thinks not.
Vice President Al Gore and his allies have been able to present global warming to the American public as an accomplished fact only by ignoring scientific controversy. Hoover media fellow Tom Bethell warns us to “prepare for a new wave of lies, dressed up as science.”
With California on the verge of a major water shortage, bureaucrats are proposing wildly expensive and inefficient responses. Hoover fellow Terry L. Anderson wonders why they haven’t considered the simplest solution of all—letting the market work.
In an increasingly integrated global economy, the International Monetary Fund has become desperately obsolete. Hoover fellow and former U.S. secretary of state George P. Shultz makes the case for merging it with the World Bank.
For decades many of the nation’s high-tech companies were in thrall to the Pentagon for their livelihood. No more. By Hoover fellow and former U.S. secretary of defense William J. Perry.
The Pentagon recently announced that it will begin inoculating troops against anthrax. Hoover media fellow Peter Schweizer says the decision came just in time.
The countries that have suffered the most in the Asian financial meltdown are those that engaged most heavily in state planning. Hoover media fellow William McGurn explains.
A controlled experiment in the field of economics? The last fifty years of history have provided just that. The free economy: Hong Kong. The mixed economy: the United States. The socialist economies: Great Britain and Israel. Nobel laureate and Hoover fellow Milton Friedman evaluates the results.
A swarm of revisionists is busy explaining what the Asian Tigers did wrong. Nobel laureate and Hoover fellow Gary S. Becker points out what the Tigers did right.
Hoover fellow Melvyn Krauss argues that Americans have every right to be wary of the proposed NATO expansion. Under the NATO collective security arrangement, Americans do the securing, Europeans the collecting. Right back at you, Peter Duignan (see above).
The Senate has now approved the Clinton administration’s proposal to expand NATO to include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Arguing that NATO has kept the peace for fifty years, Hoover fellow Peter Duignan votes a resounding aye. Take that, Mel Krauss (see below).
The United States gives Israel roughly $4 billion a year. How is it used? “To bail out or prop up every money-losing socialist institution in the country.” By Hoover fellow Alvin Rabushka.
Saddam Hussein still appears determined to develop chemical weapons. Should Israel consider a preemptive strike? Hoover fellow Arnold Beichman considers the options.
In Africa, in any given year, twenty civil wars are being fought. The first step toward peace and stability? Establishing the rule of law. Hoover fellow Larry Diamond explains how.
How much have Fidel Castro’s economic policies cost the people of Cuba? Hoover media fellow Peter Brimelow reviews the numbers. It might be time to offer the world’s worst manager a golden handshake to retire to Spain.
Hoover media fellow Michael Barone first visited Argentina a dozen years ago. When he returned recently, he discovered that he was in another country—one that free markets had transformed.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Czech Republic made arguably the most successful transition to democracy and free markets in Eastern Europe. How? By managing “the gap between expectations and reality.” By former prime minister Václav Klaus.
Hoover fellows William J. Perry and George P. Shultz—the former secretaries of defense and state—recently spent a morning talking with Hoover fellow Peter Robinson. Asked about three security concerns—Russia, China, and terrorism—the former secretaries were reassuring, but only on two out of three.
From 1936 to 1938, Stalin conducted a campaign of terror against his own citizens. Documents now in the possession of the Hoover Institution Archives provide grisly details. By Gordon M. Hahn.
